Project Trip One Completed

I wish I would have been able to tell everyone before leaving that last week I was going to be on a project trip in Kitende, Uganda! Instead, I will tell about it now!

Our team was composed of three interns, three volunteers, and three staff. We were working with a ministry called Word of Life (WOL) that has 84 locations in 60 countries. It is head-quartered in Schroon Lake, NY. In Kitende, they currently have a school with grades K-8, and they are planning to build a high school and then a discipleship training center that will turn into a Bible Institute. We went to help them come up with a realistic, effecient design.

There wasn't much for a structural engineering intern like me to do while on the trip, as far as structural engineering goes, since the architects had to first come up with a master plan. Don't worry, though, there will be enough follow-up structural design, analysis and CAD drawings to keep me busy for the next few weeks. On this trip, however, I wore a lot of "hats". I gathered data for an electrical engineer in the US who will plan the wiring and backup generator for the site, and I also did a good bit of surveying.

We worked together so well as a team, grew together through times of morning worship, bible study, eating together, having theological discussions, and playing speed scrabble, and became much better friends than we were in the beginning. That made it easier when I totally wasted half a day's worth of surveying work by not zero-ing out the machine! I felt like I needed to feel shame and like the team would be disappointed in me. However, that is not what happened. We all realized that those things happen, and we got back to work, and they loved and forgave me for screwing up big time. After that, I did NOT forget to zero out the machine again, and I don't think I will in the future. The project leader, however, another structural engineer, DID forget the next day. Of course, it was not hard for me to forgive him and move on with the work, since I had experienced the same grace one day previous.

Despite the blunders of us surveying "hacks," the design trip was successful, we were able to supply the ministry with a fitting and exciting master plan, and we all grew in the process. I believe the thing God taught me the most about is working together with a team of believers. It was simply refreshing to have such grace, such excellence, fun and genuiness. I love this.

We ended our trip with a one-night stay in a resort in Jinja called King Fisher. We took a boat ride where we saw many types of King Fishers, which are little birds with big beaks and big appetites for fish. My favorite was the Malachi King Fisher, which was very bright blue and orange, usually.

Besides the engineering work, two weeks ago I met a friend named Dennis playing football, not grid-iron, but real football. I have been praying for the Friday evening football matches to be a good avenue to make friends with Ugandans and be an ambassador for Christ. Dennis invited me to come watch Chelsea play Arsenal in the Premier League at a nice hotel just down the road, Hotel International. It is a good venue where about 50 Ugandan men go to watch the football matches. It was a good step relationally with Dennis. Hopefully, we will be able to talk about Jesus and what He really came to do. Regardless, I am pursuing a real friendship with him and am still praying for THREE great Ugandan friends. Wednesday night of this week we are planning to go for a run to help us get in better shape for football.

Notice the pictures, hopefully more will follow, specifically some shots of when I screwed up the survey. Yes, while I wasn't surveying or playing speed scrabble, I was able to strike a few poses on top of the water-tank tower of the WOL director's house and watch the students play football... I know, suffering for the gospel. You can also see some of us interns reading to a group of local kids one Saturday morning, not on the project trip. They loved it! I probably will not be able to post any videos because of the slow internet speed here, but I did remember to attach a picture of the children's choir.

The below pictures are at the project site in Kitende at dusk and dawn, respectively. The closing verse was a part of one of our morning devotions, and it reminds me of what I am learning about laboring with a team of Christians. Read the whole chapter if you want to bless your soul, and read the whole bible if you REALLY want to bless it.

I Corinthians 12:26 "If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together."